After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

He had originally thought that his brother-in-law would give him a hard time, or that he would be angry at his sister for acting first and then giving him a hard time, but to his surprise, the other party was very humble and showed no signs of being difficult. He even sounded like he was well-educated.

Ning Nan gradually felt relieved.

Cui Cui's mother-in-law, on the other hand, sat quietly to the side, like a little girl, appearing very proper.

Ning Nan glanced at her occasionally and found it somewhat amusing.

This woman is always cold and indifferent to everyone, and this is the first time he has seen her act like this... It seems she is quite afraid of her brother.

This easy and friendly conversation lasted for about fifteen minutes before it ended.

Before the end.

The brother-in-law said that he had prepared a dowry for his sister, which would be sent to the house that Master Zhu had prepared for Ning in Nanjing.

Ning Nan immediately thanked him... Oh, his brother-in-law is quite good to his sister.

The brother-in-law smiled and said that his parents had prepared it for her a long time ago... As he spoke, the brother-in-law picked up a bowl of tea.

In ancient times.

Serving tea is a way of saying goodbye to guests.

Ning Nan tactfully stood up and said that he would not bother him today.

Before leaving, he thought about it. His previous plan was that during the wedding procession, Cui Cui's wife would stay at Yang Qiniang's house, and then he would go from his own house to fetch the bride.

But now that Cui Cui still has her maternal home and her brother, she should stay at her brother's house. He set off from Lijia Village to Jinling to fetch her.

This matter should actually be decided by the elders.

But he couldn't bring his mother over, so he gritted his teeth and explained the situation.

But he only got halfway through his sentence.

Cui Cui's wife interrupted her directly, saying coldly that she would stay at Seventh Sister's house as planned. Her brother-in-law didn't object, smiled, and said he would send someone to congratulate her.

With everything settled, Ning Nan breathed a long sigh of relief.

After saying goodbye, Ning Nan boarded the carriage with Cui Cui and her wife. "Let's go home!" Ning Nan grinned at the coachman.

The maid who saw the two off at the gate was neither particularly ugly nor beautiful. At this moment, she silently withdrew her gaze and pursed her lips.

They ran towards the main room with a thud.

I just ran to the door.

Then a heart-wrenching cough came from inside!

The maid's face immediately showed a worried expression.

He quickly pushed the door open with a bang and went inside.

At this moment, about a dozen eunuchs came in through the back door, prepared cotton blankets and stoves, covered His Majesty with cotton blankets, placed a stove by the bed, served medicine, and brought hot water.

The maid closed the door.

He ran up to the sickly young man and held his hand tightly.

"You've been holding back for a long time, haven't you?" she asked with concern and heartache.

For more than a quarter of an hour, His Majesty did not cough once.

After drinking the herbal medicine prepared by the eunuch to stop his cough, and being covered with a cotton blanket and placed near the stove, Zhu Boqing felt much better, especially after coughing for a while.

He smiled palely and said weakly, "It wouldn't be good to look like I'm about to die in front of my sister and brother-in-law."

"Your Majesty, please don't talk nonsense," the maid said angrily. "Your Majesty is blessed with good fortune. Even if you don't live to be a thousand or ten thousand years old, what's wrong with living to be a hundred or twenty?"

Zhu Boqing laughed, but the laughter made his lungs ache.

The maidservant panicked and quickly apologized.

Zhu Boqing smiled and waved his hand. After a moment, he asked again, "What do you think of this brother-in-law?"

The maid shook her head: "Nothing surprising, but since Miss likes it, His Majesty will probably have no choice but to let her have it. Miss is going to get married anyway, and this honest and kind-hearted son-in-law is quite good... Hmm... Yesterday Miss gave him a hundred gold pieces, but today when she came to see His Majesty, the brocade box he gave her contained eighty gold pieces. There are also expenses for the wedding... Basically, he took it all."

"Heh...that's certainly quite generous..." Zhu Boqing chuckled. "He's a capable man from the countryside, able to tinker with gunpowder, make spiked shoes, and even improve the trebuchet. He's not greedy, and his scheme against Xiao Chun was both courageous and resourceful...I heard from the Embroidered Uniform Guard that he can also write poetry, and I heard that Grand Secretary Liu even praised him...Hmm...I haven't had the time...I really should invite the Grand Secretary over sometime and ask him more about him...Oh, and this man even knows about military affairs..."

The maid retorted, "He can hardly be called a military expert... The money the young master has spent is almost equivalent to the monthly salary of ten thousand soldiers! The young master has almost emptied the Prince Xin's estate..." She spoke up for her mistress.

Zhu Boqing smiled and said, "It's always a good thing to win."

The maidservant didn't take it to heart, and scolded, "This kind of fighting method might work against mountain bandits, but what about the Northern Dynasty? It's only because His Majesty is so considerate that Miss Mingming only wanted her son-in-law to pick up some credits while leaving the overall situation to the Grand Tutor."

"Your Majesty insisted on issuing a secret decree, ordering the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Grand Tutor, and even Wang Daban to all listen to Your Majesty's brother-in-law... Your Majesty, look, so much silver was spent to deal with a group of bandits... They did manage to find a trace of the person behind it all, but does Your Majesty have any evidence? That person knelt down before Your Majesty, cried, and denied everything... How could Your Majesty bring yourself to do it..." The maid pouted.

Zhu Boqing fell silent immediately, his face as white as paper.

When the maid saw him like this, she immediately took the hot towel with heartache and wiped the corners of his mouth.

But he couldn't help but complain, "Commander Shangguan has gone to guard against the Northern Dynasty. I think he's very cunning and doesn't dare to get involved in this... Who will investigate now? We can't just hand it over to the Ministry of Justice, can we?"

Zhu Boqing shook his head: "It was I who didn't want him involved, so I transferred him away. Shangguan Yun will be Cuiwei's Grand General for the Northern Expedition in the future, and I can't let him get involved in this matter."

"Then who does Your Majesty intend to investigate? If there is no convincing evidence, how will Your Majesty explain to the Prince of Shu and the Prince of Gui if you take action against this uncle? Your Majesty doesn't want the young lady to be targeted in the Fengtian Rebellion as soon as she ascends the throne, does he?"

Zhu Boqing coughed a few times, his face pale, and laughed as he scolded, "You're getting more and more unruly."

The maid wiped his mouth, not taking it to heart, and just smiled with heartache... She had read as many books as His Majesty had since childhood.

His Majesty said that she was his advisor and his literary strategist.

After a long silence.

Zhu Boqing's eyes were unfathomable as he said softly, "Let Cuiwei investigate herself..."

The maidservant asked in astonishment, "His Majesty has agreed?"

"Yes, I was worried that she hadn't fully recovered, but after seeing her yesterday and today, she's almost fully recovered... Since she's already volunteered several times, let her investigate on her own after her wedding... Let her fight it out herself."

The maidservant laughed and said, "What if we can't win?"

"I haven't died yet." Zhu Boqing patted the maid's hand helplessly.

...

...

The sun is westward.

The road from Nanjing to Lijiacun was dusty all the way.

With a huge weight lifted from his heart, Ning Nan was in high spirits. He tipped the driver a string of cash and ordered him to drive back to Lijia Village.

Cui Cui's wife followed him, but she seemed very unhappy and remained silent the whole way.

"What's wrong?" Ning Nan asked with a smile. "Are you unhappy that your brother won't let you be married off at home?"

The king serpent's eyes began to flick their tongues again.

With her brother-in-law's support... after all, he even gave her a dowry... Ning Nan was now quite bold and laughed, "Don't blame your brother. In my opinion, he's very worried about you. He's just worried that you're too far from Li Family Village, and he feels bad that his brother-in-law has to travel so far to pick you up... That's why he didn't argue with you or force you to stay at home."

Ning Nan tried to comfort her, but it didn't seem to work; Cui Cui's wife was still not very enthusiastic.

However, Ning Nan truly admired his brother-in-law and didn't feel that his brother-in-law looked down on his sister. Despite being so ill and constantly appearing to be about to cough but not actually doing so, it showed that his brother-in-law was bravely holding it in.

To be honest, his brother-in-law's willpower was truly remarkable... but of course, he couldn't tell his wife, Cui Cui, this, lest she worry.

After the wedding is over and Doctor Jiang returns, we can invite her to come and examine my brother-in-law. We're not family yet, and I'm not a doctor, so it's not appropriate to ask him directly what's wrong, lest I be abrupt and offend him.

……

On the evening of June 25th, he and his wife, Cui Cui, went home together, and his mother happily cooked dinner for them.

After sending Cui Cui's wife to Qiniangzi's house, he began preparing for the wedding that very night.